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Moving Matter: Using a Single, Simple Robot to Reconfigure a Connected Set of Building Blocks

Year: 2025

Type: conference-paper

Abstract: We implement and evaluate different methods for the reconfiguration of a connected arrangement of tiles into a desired target shape, using a single active robot that can move along the tile structure. This robot can pick up, carry, or drop off one tile at a time, but it must maintain a single connected configuration at all times.Becker et al. [5] recently proposed an algorithm that uses histograms as canonical intermediate configurations, guaranteeing performance within a constant factor of the optimal solution if the start and target configuration are well-separated. We implement and evaluate this algorithm, both in a simulated and practical setting, using an inchworm type robot to compare it with two existing heuristic algorithms.

Source: 2022 IEEE 18th International Conference on Automation Science and Engineering (CASE)

DOI: 10.1109/case58245.2025.11163739

Authors: Javier Garcia, Jonas Friemel, Ramin Kosfeld, Michael Yannuzzi, Peter Kramer, Christian Rieck, Christian Scheffer, Arne Schmidt, Harm Kube, Dan Biediger, Sándor P. Fekete, Aaron T. Becker

Institutions: University of Houston, Bochum University of Applied Sciences, Technische Universität Braunschweig, University of Kassel, Technische Universität Berlin

Language: English

Topic: Modular Robots and Swarm Intelligence

Subfield: Mechanical Engineering

Field: Engineering

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: green

OpenAlex ID: W4414433233

FWCI:

Cites: 22

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